Monticello Mayor Zackery Tucker resigned Tuesday after his attorney informed a judge that Tucker would accept a plea deal on corruption charges brought against him in September.
Tucker, who was elected to his first term as mayor in 2014 at age 25, informed the city that he was quitting in a one-sentence letter to City Attorney Whit Barton.
"Effective 5:30 p.m. today, I hereby resign my commission as Mayor of the City of Monticello," Tucker wrote. He signed the letter with "Yours for a better Monticello."
The City Council voted Tuesday night at a special meeting to appoint former Mayor David Anderson, who served from 2003-06, as interim mayor until a special election is held, likely in May.
City Clerk Andrea Chambers had served as acting mayor ahead of the council vote.
The term Tucker was elected to expires Dec. 31, 2018. He earned $63,603.80 annually and had a $10,000 expense account for travel and other expenses related to mayoral business.
Tucker, 28, was charged in September with tampering with public records, a felony, and misdemeanor abuse of power. An Arkansas State Police investigation found that Tucker had wrongfully funneled funds from the city and solicited loans that he never repaid from the city and economic development agencies to a nonprofit he had ties with.
Conviction of any felony can disqualify a person from holding a mayorship.
Tucker was Monticello's second-youngest mayor ever and had been considered by many as an up-and-coming leader. He was named in 2014 to Arkansas Business' "20 in Their 20s," which honored influential young Arkansans in business and public office.
After state police opened the investigation in August, the City Council stripped Tucker of authority to approve certain expenditures for the city and reduced his spending account to zero for the 2016 budget year.
In a Drew County Circuit Court filing Tuesday, Tucker's attorney, Hani Hashem of Monticello, wrote that Tucker had "engaged in significant negotiations regarding a plea agreement."
Hashem wrote that Tucker has agreed to enter a guilty plea and will pay immediate restitution. The former mayor told Circuit Judge Bynum Gibson that he had secured more than 50 percent of the amount required for restitution and that a family member had agreed to cosign a loan for the remaining amount.
Tucker said the paperwork securing the loan was submitted to a bank, which would determine if it would lend funds based upon the family member's signature. If the bank denies the loan application, Hashem wrote, Tucker has agreed to make monthly payments in restitution.
Gibson gave Tucker until March 6 to decide which restitution option he would take, Drew County Circuit Clerk Beverly Burks said.
Hashem said later Tuesday that he would not allow his client to speak to the news media while the case was ongoing.
Tucker had a Feb. 16 trial date.
Barton said Tucker was accused of spending $22,500 of the city's money to pay a vendor for the Arkansas Forest Festival, an event held each April in Monticello in celebration of the area's timber industry. The money was not authorized by the City Council and was not reimbursed. Tucker was the chairman of the festival.
Business will continue as usual at City Hall, Chambers said, adding that people expected Tucker to eventually resign.
"But we're still in a type of mild shock," she said.
Tucker cleaned out his office and turned in his keys before noon, Chambers said.
Metro on 01/18/2017